Beaches and Harbors, Marina Condo villans die mysteriously

So, Stan Wiznowsky, former Director of Dept. of Beaches and Harbors (I can't remember how to spell his name) and Doug Ring, mega real estate apartment condo developer of Marina del Rey and all over So. Cal. are dead, the former by supposed driving his car off the 101 Freeway at night, the latter from possible drug overdose in his home in Brentwood; both were relatively young, 61, and 65. Did they really die of natural causes? When I moved to Southern California, I immediately hung out at Marina del Rey, thinking it was the coolest place here. I couldn't get over how many huge restaurants were in 'business', circling the Marina, and how it seemed none of them were doing enough business to stay afloat, they were practically empty all the time, or..is that just me because I had moved down from Northern California and San Francisco, where the residents take their night life seriously? Anyway, I got the impression something fishy was going on, and wondered if these places of business were just there to launder money from criminal enterprises? Some years ago, there was a group of black entrepreneurs who opened up a Southern style New Orleans restaurant in place of that failed restaurant on Marquesas Way; it had good food, a jazz trio. The Stupidvisors denied them a liquor license for over six months, and they were driven out of business. Racism? Nothing would surprise me. Eric said he found their dumpster full of cases of beer when they closed down. Maybe Stan and Doug knew too much. I heard the monster 600 plus unit five story condo creation was largely unoccupied, except for some political cronies. Meanwhile, young people on my block continue to move out of their apartments (all except section 8 trouble makers, that is) and "for rent" signs are popping up all over the city, all the while the financial news outlets claim the economy is improving. Is this another hoax? Jerry --- On Sun, 11/15/09, Gerald Sobel <so… [at] yahoo.com> wrote: From: Gerald Sobel <so… [at] yahoo.com> Subject: [mdrvmf] News on Doug Ring, the Realestate swindler! To: md… [at] yahoogroups.com Cc: "Jon Nahhas" <jn… [at] gmail.com>, so… [at] msn.com Date: Sunday, November 15, 2009, 8:58 PM "Douglas Ring's dealings in Marina del Rey often sparked controversy. In 2000, the Board of Supervisors approved without competitive bidding 39-year lease extensions on prime waterfront property controlled by Ring, who was a major campaign donor to most of the supervisors then on the board. Real estate experts said the lease agreements would pay the county unusually low rates for such desirable waterfront parcels" I'm clipping that from all the praise in Doug Ring's obituary, which I just read on Google. Apparently he wasn't all bad(he helped rescue the LA Central Library after the arson attack), but, as far as I'm concerned, good ridence. He never understood the concept of Marian del Rey as a Recreational Boating Park for LA County, Southern and all of California, the United States, and the world, vs. a convenient nautical back drop to sell high priced homes built on former toxic wasteland. Speaking of good ridence, it probably won't change any thing, since the crooked real estate interests will still calling the shots over the future of MdR, so we'll all have to struggle on.It's interesting that Doug Ring paid for the political campaigns for all the current supervisors. Hmmm. Where's the FBI? If this doesn't stink of corruption what does? Or are the FBI investigations just dog and pony shows to make the people think they are on top of things/ doing their job? I shudder to think so. On my dock a fellow who purchased Eric's (my crew's) 26' Schock Endeavor, a classy racing sloop if there ever was one, is being hassled to move his boat out of the marina by Pier 44. The new owner brought her back to sailing condition and has been using her, which is more than I can say for most of the boats here. So the decks gel coat is faded, is that all the leasees care about? Meanwhile more and more docks stand empty, and yeah, less and less boats are out on the water, and less are competing in sailing events...including me-self. Cheers, Jerry Sobel